Purpose: To compare four imaging approaches in cirrhotic estimation; pre-enhancement T1 relaxation time (T1RT), reduction rate (RR) of T1RT, signal-based liver-to-muscle ratio (L/M ratio) on gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) of US elastography.
Materials and methods: Consecutive 58 patients with chronic liver diseases who underwent both Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI and FibroScan were analyzed. Four imaging approaches were evaluated by fibrosis score from liver biopsy and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.
Results: RR was found to be inversely correlated with LSM (r = -0.65). RR decreased with degree of fibrosis (F0-F1, 58.5 ± 6.2%, versus F2-F3-F4, 48.8 ± 11.7%, P = 0.010, F0-F1-F2, 58.2 ± 6.2% versus F3-F4, 45.5 ± 12.3%, P = 0.010 and F0-F1, 58.5 ± 6.2%, versus F2-F3, 52.1 ± 12.0%, P = 0.0038). LSM increased with degree of fibrosis (F0-F1, 5.4 ± 2.2 kPa versus F2-F3-F3, 19.3 ± 15.5 kPa, P = 0.0011 and F0-F1-F2, 6.8 ± 3.6 kPa versus F3-F4, 23.8 ± 17.1 kPa, P = 0.0029 and F0-F1, 5.4 ± 2.2 kPa, versus F2-F3, 11.4 ± 7.2 kPa, P = 0.0098). Area under ROC curves were 0.83 (F3-F4), 0.72 (F2-F3-F4), 0.68 (F2-F3) for RR and 0.83 (F3-F4), 0.88 (F2-F3-F4), 0.81 (F2-F3) for LSM in discriminating between patients with fibrosis.
Conclusion: The capability by LSM was better than those by RR of T1RT, pre-enhancement T1RT, and L/M ratio to differentiate F ≥ 2, but LSM and RR of T1RT showed the same value to differentiate F ≥ 3.
Keywords: Gd-EOB-DTPA; MRI; T1 relaxation time; US; elastography; liver fibrosis.
© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.